The highest mountain in Egypt is Gebel Katarina with its impressive 2642m. Still
it would easily be swallowed of the depth of the Red Sea.

The Red Sea, or as it’s called in Arabic: Bahr al-Ahmar, is one of the world’s
most tantalizing seascape environments. It began to develop 20-30 million years
ago when the plates of East Africa and Arabia stretched-out until they broke
apart. The Red Sea is a geologically recent opening and one of the youngest
oceanic zones on earth.

Nine countries share the shorelines of the Red Sea and the waters of the Red Sea
support a vital fishing industry and provide recreation facilities.
Unfortunately, the coastal environment is fragile. The shore line, coastal
region, and near-shore waters are all under pressure from populations and
industry.

The Red Sea is connected to the Indian Ocean in the south through the narrow
Strait of Bab al Mandab and the Gulf of Aden. In the north Red Sea splits into
Gulf of Aqaba and Gulf of Suez where it only just joins the Mediterranean Sea
via the manmade Suez Canal.
Cheap holidays to Red Sea

Gulf
of Suez is
a 300 km long, 50 km wide with depths ranging between 50 and 75 m.

Gulf
of Aqaba
is 180 km long and 25 km wide, narrow in the north and widening to the south
with maximum depths of 1850 meters.

Approximately 40 % of the Red Sea is quite shallow (less than 100 m) whereas
about 25 % of the Red Sea is less than 50 m deep. About 15 % of the Red Sea is
over 1000 m depth.
Shelf breaks are marked by coral reefs and the continental slope has an
irregular profile (series of steps down to 500 m)

In 1869, the completion
of the Suez Canal by a French company linked Egypt's Mediterranean and Red Sea
coasts and made the country a strategic crossroads. British troops occupied the
county in 1882, and it was more or less a British colony until resuming its
independence in 1922.

Red Sea beautiful Coast
line with the mountains in the background.

Even if you go far up in
the mountains you find evidence that this was once seafloor.

Coral pinnacle?

Clam shell found in the
mountains a few km outside the city of Safaga.

Even something as
strange as mangrove roots can be found in the mountain side. This
picture is taken on the way to Makadi Bay just south of Hurghada.

Red Sea Birds:

Where
ever you are in Egypt either it’s on a liveaboard in the middle of the sea
or it’s out in the vast dessert, you’re likely to spot some of our rare
species of birds.

Some are endemic to the region, like the White Eye Gull (right),
Swift Tern and the Brown Bobby.

Some
birds are using Egypt and the Red Sea for navigating in their migrating
pattern, like Storks and Flamingos.

In March and September you can see thousands of storks (left) in the sky
in a long line from horizon to horizon. They are using the up-going winds
over the desert to save energy. It's an impressive site.

Some are seasonal guests that come here
for breading like the Red Billed Tropic Bird, and in the mangrove areas;
several species of Herons (right) and Falcons.

The Wadi Gemal National Park outside Hamata is well known among
ornithologists as the only place in the world where you've got a fair
chance to spot a Sooty Falcon.

Birds of pray play and important roll in the delicate echo system and on
Small Giftun Island, Big Giftun Island and the Tawila Island we have one
of the world’s highest density of nesting pairs of Ospreys (below). How cool isn't
that! It's not rare at all to see Ospreys hunting around dive sites.
Imagine how cool it would be to have an Osprey catch a fish in front of
your eyes during a dive!

The
Ancient Egyptians were excellent natural historians who vibrantly
documented the flora and fauna of their time on the walls of their tombs
and temples. More than 75 different species of birds can be easily
identified from the wall paintings and other artefacts.

As Egypt is located at the crossroads of
three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa the area has a huge variety of
habitats with unique bird life. Egypt is also located on the major
migration route for millions of birds we see pass over the sky every
spring and fall. On top of this, the Egyptian wetlands are vital wintering
locations for many water birds.

On average, about half a million birds of prey like Lesser Spotted Eagles,
Honey Buzzards and Levant Sparrow hawks plus 250,000 White Storks and
70,000 White Pelicans passed during fall. About a million birds of prey
like Honey Buzzards, Steppe Buzzards, Steppe Eagles and Black Kites plus
450,000 White Storks passed during spring. Peak numbers are higher; over a
million birds of prey and half a million White Storks. Can you imagine the
sight when a never ending flock of huge birds cover the sky from horizon
to horizon? It's magical.

The migration periods of White Storks and White Pelicans is fairly
predictable and the passing period range from 4 to 13 days. During fall,
90% of the migrating populations of flocking species such as Levant
Sparrow-hawk, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Honey Buzzard and Red-footed Falcon
pass within 13 to 18 days. Non-flocking species, like Egyptian Vulture and
Short-toed Eagle, generally take twice as long to pass. Similar passage
periods have been recorded during spring. For most species, the fall
migration period is longer than the spring migration period, probably
because in fall adults move before the young birds.

These two beautiful Bee
Eaters (above) are part of a flock of around 50 birds. They are
regular guests at Stella Resort in Makadi Bay and can be seen flicking
around like busy bees between the palm trees right on the beach.

MANGROVE IN THE RED SEA:

Mangroves is the collective name for all plants that can grow in salt water.
It's a fragile environment and an important part of the ecosystem besides that
it also has a breathtaking beauty.

There is plenty of
mangrove along the Red Sea coastline and it's all protected by law.
Mainly it's the Grey Mangrove, Avicennia MarinaI along the
Egyptian coast line and it seems to prefer the tidal areas. With an
average of 4 to 8 metres in height the Grey Mangrove is towering
over the sea surface but it anyway need its respiratory roots that
grows up through the ground and stretches above the water. These
roots are actually utilizing the oxygen in the air during low tide.

Cool Mangrove Facts:

In Egypt there are
a scientific program working on mangrove rehabilitation and
producing honey from mangrove flowers.

The mangroves
growth in the small bay at Ras Mohammed is actually the most
northern known growth in the world.

Mangrove leafs are
covered in salt glands that helps the tree to rid excessive
salt.

There are signs
declaring the mangrove and the area surrounding it to be protected
by law.

Mangrove plays
an important part of the Red Sea costal ecosystem. It stabilizes the
tidal area, it is a wave- tide and a storm breaker, keeping the inland
from being saturated by salty sea water. It provides shelter, nesting
place- nesting material, food and ground nutrients, plus it's a wicked
nursery for juveniles of innumerable species marine life and land
animals. Reef sharks for example are spending the most of their young
life here.

This juvenile blacktip reef shark (left) is swimming in less than half a
metre of water in Makadi Bay.

Lighthouses:

Lighthouse History

Egypt is famous as the home of the prototype of all
lighthouses, built in the early third century BC by the Pharaohs of Alexandria.

At nearly 120m, it was as
tall as a modern skyscraper and much taller than any modern lighthouse.

It remained in operation
until after the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 AD and stood for centuries
more, finally collapsing after several earthquakes.

Today you can actually dive
this old light house since the building material is scattered over a
large area of sea bed.

Modern Light Houses in
Egypt

Big Brother

Daedalus

Shedwan

The light house keeper also need a
place where

he can get away from it all...

The light bulb
is probably more expensive than

the average
household light bulb I would say.

Red Sea Climate:

Month

CairoMin/Max

Hurgha
Air/Water

Sharm
Air/Water

Jan

8.6/19.1

24/18

24/21

Feb

9.3/21

25/18

25/20

March

11.2/23.7

26/20

25/21

April

13.9/28.2

31/25

31/22

May

17.4/32.4

35/26

28/24

June

19.9/34.5

37/28

32/25

July

21.5/35.4

40/28

37/26

Aug

21.6/34.8

42/29

38/28

Sept

19.9/23.3

38/27

34/29

Oct

17.8/29.8

32/25

30/27

Nov

12.1/24.1

26/23

27/25

Dec

10.4/20.7

26/19

23/23

Diagram shows
temperatures in degrees Celsius.

So what kind of wetsuit
do you needfor different time of the year in the Red Sea? I get that question
all the time. The truth is that it's not so much a question about geography and
chronology as it is about you. Here are the temperatures. How easily do you
freeze? It's not a huge difference geographically along the coast. From Hurghada
to Marsa Alam is about 250 km and to get to Hamata you need to travel another 18
km then you might have one or two degrees more. Some people come to Egypt and
dive in a shorty in the winter. I use a dry suit. Some people (like me) use a
7mm full length semidry in the summer... Check the temperatures in the
water/on land above and use some common sense to decide what suit to bring. But
do remember: It's much better to be a little bit too warm than too cold! More on
suite choices in the Red Sea throughout the year
here.

Red Sea Tides:

Tidal range:

In general tide ranges between 0.6 m in the north, near the mouth of the Gulf of
Suez and 0.9 m in the south near the Gulf of Aden but it fluctuates between 0.20
and 0.30 m away from the nodal point. The central Red Sea (Jeddah area) is
therefore almost tide-less. The prevailing north and north-eastern winds
influence the movement of water in the coastal areas, especially during storms.
In the winter the sea level is 0.5 m higher than in summer. Tidal velocities
passing through constrictions caused by reefs, sand bars and low islands
commonly exceed 1-2 m per sec, generally the velocity of the tidal current is
50-60 cm per sec with a maximum of 1 m per sec not to be confused with other
currents that can be wicked.

Low tide at Shaab El Erg:

Sometimes the tide is so low that the reef
is sticking out of the water. On other, just as rare occasions the tide is
so high that beaches are flooded.

Living Resources:

Red Sea holds one of the most spectacular coastal and marine environments of
the world and has a rich biodiversity. The sea is known for its biological
characteristics including its rich fauna and flora, particularly coral reefs and
numerous fish species has a number of unique marine habitats, including
sea-grass beds, salt-pans, mangroves, coral reefs and salt marshes.

The Egyptian Red Sea was declared a "No Catch Zone" in 2009 and now you should
not see any fishing boats at all around.

Left
photo of fishing boat:

Hennie,
guest on
M/Y Rosetta - April 2007

Salinity:

The Red Sea is the most saline open sea in the world. That is due to the effects
of the water circulation pattern, resulting from evaporation and wind stress in
the Red Sea. Salinity ranges between 36 and 38 ‰. The Red Sea water is an essential asset. There is extensive demand of
desalinated water to meet the requirement of the population and the industries
along the Red Sea.

There are plenty desalination plants along the Red Sea coast which
discharge warm brine and treatment chemicals (chlorine and anti-scalants) that
may cause bleaching and mortality of corals and diseases to the fish stocks.
Although this is only a local phenomenon, it may intensify with time and
have a profound impact on the fishing industry. The water from the Red Sea is
also utilized by oil refineries and cement factories for cooling purposes. Used
water drained back into the coastal zones may cause harm to the near-shore
environment of the Red Sea.

Red Sea Sediments:

The Red Sea is unique among the seas of the world as no river flows into it.
Occasionally sediment is brought into the Red Sea via a number of wadis
(walleyes with seasonal streams) especially in the south. Since there is absence of rivers and
permanent streams, sand and dirt is only brought to the Red Sea by rain
and wind. The coastal sediment is mostly composed of carbonate material from
coral fragments, coralline algae and molluscs. The sediments vary in size from
gravel to sand with occasional fine sediments at places.